Thomaz Bellucci has certainly worked to reach his first final at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. US Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston. The Brazilian won his fourth consecutive three-set match on Saturday, ending the dream run of #NextGenATP American Ernesto Escobedo 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 in the semi-finals.

Bellucci, who’s making his Houston debut, reaches his first ATP World Tour final of the season and the eighth of his career. The 29-year-old Brazilian will try to win his fifth ATP World Tour title against either top seed Jack Sock or fourth seed Steve Johnson.

“It’s tough to play three sets every day. I didn’t have one day off,” Bellucci said. “I hope to be better tomorrow.”

All four of Bellucci’s titles have come on clay but he hasn’t taken home an ATP World Tour crown since 2015 Geneva. The left-hander made the Quito final last year but fell to Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic.

No matter what happens on Sunday, though, the eighth-seeded Bellucci has surpassed his own expectations by reaching the Houston final. “I didn’t expect to play this well because I came Sunday night. I just practised once before the first round,” he said.

Bellucci won 71 per cent of his first-serve points and didn’t face a break point in the third set against Escobedo. He clinched the one-hour and 55-minute match with a service winner.

Escobedo was trying to reach his first ATP World Tour final. The 20-year-old wild card had never won an ATP World Tour match on clay before this week. He became the youngest American to reach the Houston semi-finals since Andy Roddick in 2003.

“I competed hard this week. It was a great tournament, great atmosphere out there. I learned a lot and can’t wait for the future,” Escobedo said. “I feel like I belong on the ATP [World Tour]. My game is there. I just have to work harder and stay disciplined.”

Escobedo entered the ATP World Tour 250 tournament at a career-high No. 91 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and is projected to move to No. 72 when the new rankings are released on Monday.

Competing this week as the top seeds at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston, legendary doubles pairing Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan revealed their first memorable moment on the ATP World Tour, first concert and their unusual pet they had growing up.

First moment I realised I loved tennis
Mike: Probably the first tournament we went to Indian Wells when we were seven years old. We saw Andre Agassi play and he was just hitting the heck out of the ball. He had long hair and the flashy clothes. We went to the Nike store and bought those pink tights, but had the skinniest legs ever so they were still loose on us! We got his autograph and that’s what kind of fired us up to grab a racquet and practise after that.

Bob: When I was six or seven years old and knew the Top 100 players (in the Emirates ATP Rankings) by heart, where they were ranked, where they’re from. We were encyclopedias. We knew who had won every Grand Slam for the past 50 years. We loved it.

First tournament I played
Mike: Our first tournament we ever played was in 1984 at Lake Lindero, California. It was a novice 10-and-under tournament. I still have the trophy. We met in the singles final, but our parents wouldn’t let us play each other, so we took those two trophies home and won the doubles as well. Pretty much played a tournament every weekend after that from then on.

First coach and most important lesson he/she taught me
Bob: Our parents were our coaches growing up and they still help us to this day. They just really stressed sportsmanship. They didn’t worry about the wins and losses, just wanted us to give 110 per cent, be fair and good sports. We try to take that to heart every time we step on the court.

Mike: I remember my mom yanked me off the court once for bad sportsmanship, at a big tournament and in front of everyone. That taught me a lesson to control your emotions on the court and always be a good sport. They never came down on us for losing, only if we were being jerks.

First pinch-me moment on the ATP World Tour
Bob: When we were 17 years old and got a wild card into the US Open (in 1996). We played the highly seeded team of Patrick Galbraith and Grant Connell. We had our credentials, but nobody actually believed we were players. We got kicked off a practice court, even though it was our hour, because the guy thought we were ball kids… We were intimidated and left. We lost the first set 6-0, but finally got a hold early in the second set and it felt like we had arrived, even though we lost 6-0, 6-4. It was cool to be amongst those guys and in the draw.

Mike: Our first big win was at Indian Wells (in 1999). We got a wild card and beat Patrick Rafter and Jonas Bjorkman, who had just won the Australian Open. That was back when they had bonus points in the rankings, so beating the No. 1 team gave you 50 bonus points. That solidified us in the Top 100 and got us into the French Open, and we’ve played 77 Grand Slams in a row since then.

First autograph or photo I ever got from a famous person
Bob: We would go down to the Great Western Forum to watch the exhibition matches since they had exhibitions there all the time. I think it was McEnroe.

Mike: This was before iPhones and cameras, so it was just autographs! But since then we’ve met four Presidents. George Bush Sr. came to one of our matches in Houston, and then we’ve met George W. Bush. We met Obama at the White House, which was pretty cool. And then we knew Chelsea Clinton from Stanford, so we met Bill at the White House.

First pet
Mike: It was a chicken we called Dick The Chick. We fed it every day and then it finally turned into a rooster. It was waking us up every morning, so we had to let it run away. We took it to a farm and let it spread its wings.

First concert
Mike: It was in 1996. We were pretty sheltered, so we didn’t go to any concerts in high school, but at Stanford we saw Dave Matthews Band at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. We’ve been die-hard Dave fans ever since and seem him about 20 times. We got to meet him, know Boyd Tinsley. We were in the mosh pit, getting jacked around. [Laughs].

Competing this week as the top seeds at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston, legendary doubles pairing Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan revealed their first memorable moment on the ATP World Tour, first concert and their unusual pet they had growing up.

First moment I realised I loved tennis
Mike: Probably the first tournament we went to Indian Wells when we were seven years old. We saw Andre Agassi play and he was just hitting the piss out of the ball. He had long hair and the flashy clothes. We went to the Nike store and bought those pink tights, but had the skinniest legs ever so they were still loose on us! We got his autograph and that’s what kind of fired us up to grab a racquet and practice after that.

Bob: When I was six or seven years old and knew the Top 100 players (in the Emirates ATP Rankings) by heart, where they were ranked, where they’re from. We were encyclopedias. We knew who had won every Grand Slam for the past 50 years. We loved it.

First tournament I played
Mike: Our first tournament we ever played was in 1984 at Lake Lindero, California. It was a novice 10-and-under tournament. I still have the trophy. We met in the singles final, but our parents wouldn’t let us play each other, so we took those two trophies home and won the doubles as well. Pretty much played a tournament every weekend after that from then on.

First coach and most important lesson he/she taught me
Bob: Our parents were our coaches growing up and they still help us to this day. They just really stressed sportsmanship. They didn’t worry about the wins and losses, just wanted us to give 110 per cent, be fair and good sports. We try to take that to heart every time we step on the court.

Mike: I remember my mom yanked me off the court once for bad sportsmanship, at a big tournament and in front of everyone. That taught me a lesson to control your emotions on the court and always be a good sport. They never came down on us for losing, only if we were being jerks.

First pinch-me moment on the ATP World Tour
Bob: When we were 17 years old and got a wild card into the US Open (in 1996). We played the highly seeded team of Patrick Galbraith and Grant Connell. We had our credentials, but nobody actually believed we were players. We got kicked off a practice court, even though it was our hour, because the guy thought we were ball kids. And we did! We were intimidated and left. We lost the first set 6-0, but finally got a hold early in the second set and it felt like we had arrived, even though we lost 6-0, 6-4. It was cool to be amongst those guys and in the draw.

Mike: Our first big win was at Indian Wells (in 1999). We got a wild card and beat Patrick Rafter and Jonas Bjorkman, who had just won the Australian Open. That was back when they had bonus points in the rankings, so beating the No. 1 team gave you 50 bonus points. That solidified us in the Top 100 and got us into the French Open, and we’ve played 77 Grand Slams in a row since then.

First autograph or photo I ever got from a famous person
Bob: We would go down to the Great Western Forum to watch the exhibition matches since they had exhibitions there all the time. I think it was McEnroe.

Mike: This was before iPhones and cameras, so it was just autographs! But since then we’ve met four Presidents. George Bush Sr. came to one of our matches in Houston, and then we’ve met George W. Bush. We met Obama at the White House, which was pretty cool. And then we knew Chelsea Clinton from Stanford, so we met Bill at the White House

First pet
Mike: It was a chicken we called Dick the chick. We fed it every day and then it finally turned into a rooster. It was waking us up every morning, so we had to let it run away. We took it to a farm and let it spread its wings.

First concert
Mike: It was in 1996. We were pretty sheltered, so we didn’t go to any concerts in high school, but at Stanford we saw Dave Matthews Band at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. We’ve been die-hard Dave fans ever since and seem him about 20 times. We got to meet him, know Boyd Tinsley. We were in the mosh pit, getting jacked around. [Laughs].

Exactly one year ago, Borna Coric made a statement on the clay of Marrakech in reaching his second ATP World Tour final. Coric finished runner-up to Federico Delbonis on that day, but the #NextGenATP Croatian will have another shot at the Grand Prix Hassan II title when he faces Philipp Kohlschreiber on Sunday. 

In a battle of former recipients of the ATP Star of Tomorrow Award, presented by Emirates, Coric (2014 winner) downed Jiri Vesely (2013) 6-4, 6-4 in Saturday’s first semi-final. The 20 year old needed one hour and 22 minutes to prevail, firing six aces and saving both break points faced.

“It was a very good match for me,” said Coric. “My best on the clay season so far. I was serving very good, returning very good and moving very good.

“It’s going to be a very tough match tomorrow. I play very good here and we’ll see what’s going to happen. I can only hope to take the next step tomorrow.”

Coric will appear in his third ATP World Tour final, seeking his maiden title. In addition to his run to the final in Marrakech last year, he also finished runner-up to Stan Wawrinka at the Aircel Chennai Open to open the 2016 season. The Croatian is bidding to add a fourth title for the current #NextGenATP contingent, joining Alexander Zverev (St. Petersburg 2016 & Montpellier 2017) and Karen Khachanov (Chengdu 2016).

It will be the third FedEx ATP Head2Head encounter between Coric and Kohlschreiber. They previously battled in both Dubai and Monte-Carlo last year, with the German taking both meetings in straight sets. 

Kohlschreiber advanced to his first final of the season with a comprehensive 6-2, 6-2 win over Benoit Paire on Saturday. The 33 year old emerged victorious after just 62 minutes, claiming four of 14 break chances. He broke Paire’s serve after a marathon 18-point opening game and did not look back from there, eventually converting his second match point with a service winner.

“Against Benoit it is not easy and always tricky,” said Kohlschreiber. “I think I played a very good match and I started well. I managed to stay calm and play very good tennis.

“Borna played the final here last year, so he really likes the conditions. For me, it’s my first final here. I also like the conditions and hopefully we’ll play our best tennis and have a great final.”

Kohlschreiber will appear in his 16th ATP World Tour final and first on African soil. It is his first final outside of his home country of Germany or current hometown of Kitzbuhel since 2013. The World No. 32 is vying for an eighth career title.

Ernesto Escobedo has been quietly rising up the Emirates ATP Rankings for the past year, but the #NextGenATP American made has made plenty of noise this week at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship. 

The 20 year old reached his first ATP World Tour semi-final in Houston with a hard-hitting game and impressive mental toughness in tight moments. Escobedo prevailed on Friday in a three-hour, three tie-break marathon quarter-final against second seed John Isner. The American remained calm as Isner fought off six match points with big serving. Escobedo finally converted on his seventh with an ace.

Escobedo was ranked outside of the Top 300 just 12 months ago, but is projected to move well inside the Top 80 when the newest rankings are released on Monday.

“I wasn’t winning a lot of matches my first two years on tour, so to have the results come this quickly is a little surprising,” he admitted. “But at the same time, I don’t want to say it surpassed my expectations. This is what I’ve been working for. Now that I’ve won matches lately in Acapulco and Miami and here, I’m really feeling like I belong.”

It may seem surprising that the big-hitting baseliner reached his first ATP World Tour semi-final on red clay, especially since the California native played almost exclusively on hard-courts growing up. However, Escobedo said that not only does his game suit the surface, but that other American players can also produce similar results on the red dirt this year.

“I feel like Americans can play on clay. There’s a stereotype that we can’t, but I think it can be our best surface,” he said. “I grew up in Los Angeles, so there’s maybe only one or two clay courts in the whole city, but I always loved sliding around on it. It teaches you how to be patient, work the point around a little more. It’s a different game.”

Currently No. 7 in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan, Escobedo will move inside the Top 4 on Monday with a semi-final finish in Houston and could climb as high as No. 2 if he reaches the final or wins the tournament. The American is now in solid standing to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan and said he’s eager to take part in it.

“It would be so cool to be one of the Top 8 guys and make it there. It’s the first year of the event, but my last chance to qualify since I’m turning 21 this year, so I want to have that experience,” he said. “It’s really going to come down to the wire for those last few spots after the US Open and every match will count.”

A week ago, #NextGenATP American Ernesto Escobedo had never won an ATP World Tour match on clay. Safe to say he’s now enjoying the surface.

The 20 year old advanced to his first ATP World Tour semi-final on Friday, knocking out second seed and 2013 champion John Isner 7-6(6), 6-7(6), 7-6(5) at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. US Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston.

“I’m speechless right now. I can’t believe it. It was a very long match, three tie-breaks. I just stuck with it. I just told myself it’s going to happen, just keep on pushing, stay mentally tough,” Escobedo said.

The right-hander notched an ace out wide on his seventh match point to finish off Isner, who delivered a tournament-record 35 aces in the three-hour and two-minute quarter-final. Escobedo improved to 5-0 in matches decided by tie-breaks, including four ATP Challenger Tour contests. Isner, meanwhile, is 3-10 in deciding set tie-breaks since the start of the 2016 season.

Escobedo, who received a wild card into the main draw, will meet Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci, who came back from a break down in the third set to beat third seed Sam Querrey 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. The semi-final will be Bellucci’s first in Houston and second of the season. He also reached the last four in Quito. “I’m feeling well. I think it was my best match this week,” he said.

Top seed Jack Sock became the first 20-match winner on the ATP World Tour in 2017 with a 7-6(6), 1-6, 6-4 victory against Spaniard Feliciano Lopez. Sock, the 2015 champion, reaches the Houston semi-finals for the third consecutive year.

He will face compatriot Steve Johnson for the sixth time overall and the third time this season. Sock leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 4-1 and has won both of their 2017 meetings.

Johnson beat fifth seed Fernando Verdasco for the first time in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. Verdasco had won their past four contests but Johnson saved both break points faced to roll to a 6-2, 6-4 win. “I found my footing great today. I served well, got out of jams, made a lot of first serves,” said Johnson, who’s through to his first ATP World Tour clay court semi-final.